"two in layman's terms, heterotrophs (such as animals) eat either autotrophs (such as plants) or other heterotrophs, or both. Detritivores are heterotrophs which obtain nutrients by consuming detritus (decomposing plant and animal parts as well as feces). Saprotrophs (also called lysotrophs) are chemoheterotrophs that use extracellular digestion in processing decayed organic matter. It is a term most often associated with fungi. The process is most often facilitated through the active transport of such materials through endocytosis within the internal mycelium and its constituent hyphae. Heterotrophs can be organotrophs or lithotrophs. Organotrophs exploit reduced carbon compounds as electron sources, like carbohydrates,"
"eating of wood, whether alive or dead, is known as xylophagy. Τhe activity of animals feeding only on dead wood is called sapro-xylophagy and those animals, sapro-xylophagous. In food webs, detritivores generally play the roles of decomposers. Detritivores are often eaten by consumers and therefore commonly play important roles as recyclers in ecosystem energy flow and biogeochemical cycles. Many detritivores live in mature woodland, though the term can be applied to certain bottom-feeders in wet environments. These organisms play a crucial role in benthic ecosystems, forming essential food chains and participating in the nitrogen cycle. Fungi, acting as decomposers, are"
"Decomposition Decomposition is the process by which organic substances are broken down into a more simple organic matter. The process is a part of the nutrient cycle and is essential for recycling the finite matter that occupies physical space in the biosphere. Bodies of living organisms begin to decompose shortly after death. Animals, such as worms, also help decompose the organic materials. Organisms that do this are known as decomposers. Although no two organisms decompose in the same way, they all undergo the same sequential stages of decomposition. The science which studies decomposition is generally referred to as ""taphonomy"" from"
"necrophages which consume dead animal biomass, and thanatophages which consume dead plant biomass. Saprophagy Saprophages are olophages that obtain nutrients by consuming decomposing dead plant or animal biomass. They are distinguished from detritivores in that saprophages are sessile consumers while detritivore are mobile. Typical saprophagic animals include sedentary polychaetes such as amphitrites (""Amphitritinae"", worms of the family Terebellidae) and other terebellids. The eating of wood, whether live or dead, is known as xylophagy. Τhe activity of animals feeding only on dead wood is called sapro-xylophagy and those animals, sapro-xylophagous. In food webs, saprophages generally play the roles of decomposers. There"
"Saprophagy Saprophages are olophages that obtain nutrients by consuming decomposing dead plant or animal biomass. They are distinguished from detritivores in that saprophages are sessile consumers while detritivore are mobile. Typical saprophagic animals include sedentary polychaetes such as amphitrites (""Amphitritinae"", worms of the family Terebellidae) and other terebellids. The eating of wood, whether live or dead, is known as xylophagy. Τhe activity of animals feeding only on dead wood is called sapro-xylophagy and those animals, sapro-xylophagous. In food webs, saprophages generally play the roles of decomposers. There are two main branches of saprophges, broken down by nutrient source. There are"
"Decomposer Decomposers are organisms that break down dead or decaying organisms, and in doing so, they carry out the natural process of decomposition. Like herbivores and predators, decomposers are heterotrophic, meaning that they use organic substrates to get their energy, carbon and nutrients for growth and development. While the terms decomposer and detritivore are often interchangeably used, detritivores must ingest and digest dead matter via internal processes while decomposers can directly absorb nutrients through chemical and biological processes hence breaking down matter without ingesting it. Thus, invertebrates such as earthworms, woodlice, and sea cucumbers are technically detritivores, not decomposers, since"
"Detritivore Detritivores, also known as detrivores, detritophages, detritus feeders, or detritus eaters, are heterotrophs that obtain nutrients by consuming detritus (decomposing plant and animal parts as well as faeces). There are many kinds of invertebrates, vertebrates and plants that carry out coprophagy. By doing so, all these detritivores contribute to decomposition and the nutrient cycles. They should be distinguished from other decomposers, such as many species of bacteria, fungi and protists, which are unable to ingest discrete lumps of matter, but instead live by absorbing and metabolizing on a molecular scale (saprotrophic nutrition). However, the terms ""detritivore"" and ""decomposer"" are"
"Microbivory Microbivory (adj. microbivorous, microbivore) is a feeding behavior consisting of eating microbes, especially bacteria, and practiced by animals of the mesofauna, microfauna and meiofauna. In food webs of ecosystems, microbivores can be distinguished from detritivores, generally thought playing the roles of decomposers, as they don't consume decaying dead matter but only living microorganisms. Microbivorous animals include some soil nematodes, springtails or flies such as ""Drosophila sharpi"". A well known example of microbivorous nematodes is the model roundworm ""Caenorhabditis elegans"" which is maintained in culture in labs on agar plates, fed with the 'OP50' ""Escherichia coli"" strain of bacteria. There"
"kinds of living organisms. This process involves several steps, the first being mostly mechanical, and becoming more chemical as it progresses. The small living beings that work on that decomposition chain are themselves part of the soil organic matter, and form a food web of organisms that prey upon each other and are preyed upon. There are also other animals that consume living vegetal material, whose residues are passed to the soil. The products from the living organisms metabolism are the secondary sources of soil organic matter that also includes the corpses of these organisms. Some animals, like earthworms, ants"
"for centuries. Carrion Carrion (from Latin ""caro"", meaning ""meat"") is the decaying flesh of a dead animal. Carrion is an important food source for large carnivores and omnivores in most ecosystems. Examples of carrion-eaters (or scavengers) include vultures, hawks, eagles, hyenas, Virginia opossum, Tasmanian devils, coyotes and Komodo dragons. Many invertebrates such as the carrion and burying beetles, as well as maggots of calliphorid flies and flesh-flies also eat carrion, playing an important role in recycling nitrogen and carbon in animal remains. Carrion begins to decay at the moment of the animal's death, and it will increasingly attract insects and"
"Thanatophage Thanatophages, are olophages that obtain nutrients by consuming decomposing dead plant biomass. In food webs, thanatophages generally play the roles of decomposers. The eating of wood, whether live or dead, is known as xylophagy. Τhe activity of animals feeding only on dead wood is called sapro-xylophagy and those animals, sapro-xylophagous. ""Saprophyte"" (""-phyte"" meaning ""plant"") is a botanical term that is no longer in popular use. There are no real saprotrophic organisms that are embryophytes, and fungi and bacteria are no longer placed in the plant kingdom. Plants that were once considered saprophytes, such as non-photosynthetic orchids and monotropes, are"
"Carrion Carrion (from Latin ""caro"", meaning ""meat"") is the decaying flesh of a dead animal. Carrion is an important food source for large carnivores and omnivores in most ecosystems. Examples of carrion-eaters (or scavengers) include vultures, hawks, eagles, hyenas, Virginia opossum, Tasmanian devils, coyotes and Komodo dragons. Many invertebrates such as the carrion and burying beetles, as well as maggots of calliphorid flies and flesh-flies also eat carrion, playing an important role in recycling nitrogen and carbon in animal remains. Carrion begins to decay at the moment of the animal's death, and it will increasingly attract insects and breed bacteria."
"organisms that live on the forest floor are decomposers, such as fungi. Organisms whose diet consists of plant detritus, such as earthworms, are termed detritivores. The community of decomposers in the litter layer also includes bacteria, amoeba, nematodes, rotifer, springtails, cryptostigmata, potworms, insect larvae, mollusks, oribatid mites, woodlice, and millipedes. Their consumption of the litterfall results in the breakdown of simple carbon compounds into carbon dioxide (CO) and water (HO), and releases inorganic ions (like nitrogen and phosphorus) into the soil where the surrounding plants can then reabsorb the nutrients that were shed as litterfall. In this way, litterfall becomes"
"often used interchangeably. Detritivores are an important aspect of many ecosystems. They can live on any type of soil with an organic component, including marine ecosystems, where they are termed interchangeably with bottom feeders. Typical detritivorous animals include millipedes, springtails, woodlices, dung flies, slugs, many terrestrial worms, sea stars, sea cucumbers, fiddler crabs, and some sedentary polychaetes such as amphitrites (""Amphitritinae"", worms of the family Terebellidae) and other terebellids. Scavengers are not typically thought to be detritivores, as they generally eat large quantities of organic matter, but both detritivores and scavengers are same type of cases of consumer-resource systems. The"
"bacteria, microbes and animals such as earthworms, nematodes, protozoa, and arthropods. Plant remains, including those that animals digested and excreted, contain organic compounds: sugars, starches, proteins, carbohydrates, lignins, waxes, resins, and organic acids. Decay in the soil begins with the decomposition of sugars and starches from carbohydrates, which decompose easily as detritivores initially invade the dead plant organs, while the remaining cellulose and lignin decompose more slowly. Simple proteins, organic acids, starches, and sugars decompose rapidly, while crude proteins, fats, waxes, and resins remain relatively unchanged for longer periods of time. Lignin, which is quickly transformed by white-rot fungi, is"
"exoskeleton provides the bacterium with carbon and nitrogen. Zooplankton Zooplankton (, ) are heterotrophic (sometimes detritivorous) plankton (cf. phytoplankton). Plankton are organisms drifting in oceans, seas, and bodies of fresh water. The word ""zooplankton"" is derived from the Greek ""zoon"" (), meaning ""animal"", and """" (), meaning ""wanderer"" or ""drifter"". Individual zooplankton are usually microscopic, but some (such as jellyfish) are larger and visible to the naked eye. Zooplankton is a categorization spanning a range of organism sizes including small protozoans and large metazoans. It includes holoplanktonic organisms whose complete life cycle lies within the plankton, as well as meroplanktonic"
"by the term ""afterlife"". After death the remains of an organism become part of the biogeochemical cycle. Animals may be consumed by a predator or a scavenger. Organic material may then be further decomposed by detritivores, organisms which recycle detritus, returning it to the environment for reuse in the food chain, where these chemicals may eventually end up being consumed and assimilated into the cells of a living organism. Examples of detritivores include earthworms, woodlice and dung beetles. Microorganisms also play a vital role, raising the temperature of the decomposing matter as they break it down into yet simpler molecules."
"also play a large role in the decomposition of litter and soil organic matter. Soil animals graze on populations of bacteria and fungi as well as ingest and break up litter to increase soil respiration. Microfauna are made up of the smallest soil animals. These include nematodes and mites. This group specializes on soil bacteria and fungi. By ingesting these organisms, carbon that was initially in plant organic compounds and was incorporated into bacterial and fungal structures will now be respired by the soil animal. Mesofauna are soil animals from in length and will ingest soil litter. The fecal material"
"roles in these communities, though these roles vary widely based on what species is present. Decomposer insects are ones that feed on dead or rotten bodies of plant or animal life. These insects are called saprophages and fall into three main categories; those that feed on dead or dying plant matter, those that feed on dead animals (carrion), and those that feed on excrement (feces) of other animals. As dead plants are eaten away, more surface area is exposed, allowing the plants to decay faster due to an increase in microorganisms eating the plant. These insects are largely responsible for"
"Xylophagy Xylophagy is a term used in ecology to describe the habits of an herbivorous animal whose diet consists primarily (often solely) of wood. The word derives from Greek ""ξυλοφάγος"" (""xulophagos"") ""eating wood"", from ""ξύλον"" (""xulon"") ""wood"" and ""φαγεῖν"" (""phagein"") ""to eat"", an ancient Greek name for a kind of a worm-eating bird. Animals feeding only on dead wood are called sapro-xylophagous or saproxylic. Most such animals are arthropods, primarily insects of various kinds, in which the behavior is quite common, and found in many different orders. It is not uncommon for insects to specialize to various degrees; in some"
"and often occurs in large pieces. Fungi decompose organic matter by releasing enzymes to break down the decaying material, after which they absorb the nutrients in the decaying material. Hyphae used to break down matter and absorb nutrients are also used in reproduction. When two compatible fungii hyphae grow close to each other, they will then fuse together for reproduction and form another fungus. Decomposer Decomposers are organisms that break down dead or decaying organisms, and in doing so, they carry out the natural process of decomposition. Like herbivores and predators, decomposers are heterotrophic, meaning that they use organic substrates"
"such as bacteria, molds, and actinomycetes that work to break down the dead organic matter. Were it not for the action of these micro-organisms, the entire carbon dioxide part of the atmosphere would be sequestered as organic matter in the soil. Chemically, organic matter is classed as follows: Most living things in soils, including plants, insects, bacteria, and fungi, are dependent on organic matter for nutrients and/or energy. Soils have organic compounds in varying degrees of decomposition which rate is dependent on the temperature, soil moisture, and aeration. Bacteria and fungi feed on the raw organic matter, which are fed"
"Real systems are much more complex than this—organisms will generally feed on more than one form of food, and may feed at more than one trophic level. Carnivores may capture some prey which are part of a plant-based trophic system and others that are part of a detritus-based trophic system (a bird that feeds both on herbivorous grasshoppers and earthworms, which consume detritus). Real systems, with all these complexities, form food webs rather than food chains. The carbon and nutrients in dead organic matter are broken down by a group of processes known as decomposition. This releases nutrients that can"
"grassland ecosystems, natural damage from fire, insects that feed on decaying matter, termites, grazing mammals, and the physical movement of animals through the grass are the primary agents of breakdown and nutrient cycling, while bacteria and fungi play the main roles in further decomposition. The chemical aspects of plant decomposition always involve the release of carbon dioxide. In fact, decomposition contributes over 90 percent of carbon dioxide released each year. The decomposition of food, either plant or animal, called ""spoilage"" in this context, is an important field of study within food science. Food decomposition can be slowed down by conservation."
"Holozoic nutrition Holozoic nutrition (Greek: ""holo""-whole ; ""zoikos""-of animals) is a type of heterotrophic nutrition that is characterized by the internalization (ingestion) and internal processing of gaseous, liquid or solid food particles. Protozoa, such as amoebas, and most of the free living animals,such as animals, exhibit this type of nutrition. In Holozoic nutrition the energy and organic building blocks are obtained by ingesting and then digesting other organisms or pieces of other organisms, including blood and decaying organic matter. This contrasts with holophytic nutrition, in which energy and organic building blocks are obtained through photosynthesis or chemosynthesis, and with saprozoic"
"is also an use of the term 'microbivore' to qualify the concept of robots autonomously finding their energy in the production of bacteria. Robert Freitas has also proposed microbivore robots that would attack pathogens in the manner of white blood cells. Microbivory Microbivory (adj. microbivorous, microbivore) is a feeding behavior consisting of eating microbes, especially bacteria, and practiced by animals of the mesofauna, microfauna and meiofauna. In food webs of ecosystems, microbivores can be distinguished from detritivores, generally thought playing the roles of decomposers, as they don't consume decaying dead matter but only living microorganisms. Microbivorous animals include some soil"
"particles of dead organic material of both animal and plant origin are referred to as detritivores. Scavengers play a fundamental role in the environment through the removal of decaying organisms, serving as an natural sanitation service. While microscopic and invertebrate decomposers break down dead organisms into simple organic matter which are used by nearby autotrophs, scavengers help conserve energy and nutrients obtained from carrion within the upper trophic levels, and are able to disperse the energy and nutrients farther away from the site of the carrion than decomposers. Scavenging unites animals which normally would not come into contact, and results"
"dead organic matter such as leaves and wood on the forest floor. Like earthworms, they play an important role in decomposition; by breaking down decaying organic matter they release locked up nutrients back into the soil. Such recycling is essential for plant nutrition and accordingly for the entire ecology. It is possible that giant pill millipedes rely on special bacteria in their gut, much as termites do, to exploit the nutritional value of otherwise indigestible material such as lignin. Like most millipedes, Sphaerotheriida inhabit mainly the leaf litter of humid forests. Some species, however, show an arboreal (tree-living) lifestyle, and"
"Scavenger Scavengers are animals that consume dead organisms that have died from causes other than predation. While scavenging generally refers to carnivores feeding on carrion, it is also a herbivorous feeding behavior. Scavengers play an important role in the ecosystem by consuming dead animal and plant material. Decomposers and detritivores complete this process, by consuming the remains left by scavengers. Scavengers aid in overcoming fluctuations of food resources in the environment. The process and rate of scavenging is affected by both biotic and abiotic factors, such as carcass size, habitat, temperature, and seasons. Scavenger is an alteration of ""scavager,"" from"
"decaying animal tissue. Prime decomposers are bacteria or fungi, though larger scavengers also play an important role in decomposition if the body is accessible to insects, mites and other animals. The most important arthropods that are involved in the process include carrion beetles, mites, the flesh-flies (Sarcophagidae) and blow-flies (Calliphoridae), such as the green-bottle fly seen in the summer. In North America, the most important non-insect animals that are typically involved in the process include mammal and bird scavengers, such as coyotes, dogs, wolves, foxes, rats, crows and vultures. Some of these scavengers also remove and scatter bones, which they"
"Saprobiontic Saprobionts are organisms that digest their food externally and then absorb the products. Fungi are examples of saprobiontic organisms also known as decomposers. Saprobiontic organisms feed off dead and or decaying matter, to digest this they excrete digestive enzymes which breaks down the cell tissues allowing the organism to extract the nutrients it needs to survive while leaving the indigestible waste. This is called extracellular digestion. This is very important in ecosystems, for the nutrient cycle. They are a form of decomposer, but not to be confused with detritivores, which digest internally. These organisms can be a good source"
"Herbivore A herbivore is an animal anatomically and physiologically adapted to eating plant material, for example foliage, for the main component of its diet. As a result of their plant diet, herbivorous animals typically have mouthparts adapted to rasping or grinding. Horses and other herbivores have wide flat teeth that are adapted to grinding grass, tree bark, and other tough plant material. A large percentage of herbivores have mutualistic gut flora that help them digest plant matter, which is more difficult to digest than animal prey. This flora is made up of cellulose-digesting protozoans or bacteria. Herbivore is the anglicized"
"Graminivore In zoology, a graminivore (not to be confused with a granivore) is an herbivorous animal that feeds primarily on grass (specifically ""true"" grasses, plants of the family Poaceae). The word is derived from Latin ""graminis"", meaning ""grass"", and ""vorare"", meaning ""to eat."" Graminivory is a form of grazing. These herbivorous animals have digestive systems that are adapted to digest large amounts of cellulose, which is abundant in fibrous plant matter and more difficult to break down for many other animals. As such, they have specialized enzymes to aid in digestion and in some cases symbiotic bacteria that live in"